Acrophobia
by LovelyDemon
Summary: Acrophobia (from the Greek: ἄκρον, ákron , meaning "peak, summit, edge" and φόβος, phóbos, "fear") is an extreme or irrational fear of heights.


**Summary: Acrophobia (from the Greek: ἄκρον, ákron , meaning "peak, summit, edge" and φόβος, phóbos, "fear") is an extreme or irrational fear of heights.**

**Rated: T**

**Pairing: AkuRoku**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Heart**

**Author's note: So I don't know what the English name of this thing is they're doing, so i tried to explain it as best as possible ^^ I did this at school, and thanks to my acrophobia it wasn't one of my best experiences so I thought about sharing it... Also because when looking up the word 'acrophobia', I never really found a good translation of what you feel at that moment, so I tried to explain it a little in this fanfic... Sadly, since my English isn't that great it isn't 100% how I experienced it... But hope you get the picture anyway. Other then that... Just read, and please review! ^^**

* * *

Acrophobia

* * *

_Acrophobia (from the Greek: ἄκρον, ákron , meaning "peak, summit, edge" and φόβος, phóbos, "fear") is an extreme or irrational fear of heights._

* * *

Keeping your greatest fear a secret wasn't one of the smartest things Roxas had ever done, _so he thought_ as he was probably sitting on the highest place he had even been in his whole life, he felt like an idiot… knowing that his friends were already waiting for him to _just_ jump.

'_Easier said then done_.'

'_Dodensprong_,' that's what Namine had called it in her mother's language, she said she had done it with her friends when she still lived in her home-country, 'kind of like bungee-jumping, but then indoors. She had done it in 'Leuven' and to show them what it was she had let them watch a video of what it was and the moment Roxas had seen it he had felt himself become weak. Axel had been very happy about the idea and said he wanted to do it, but only if Roxas was coming as well. And god, Roxas the stupid idiot he was just had to say 'yes'. No one except his twin Sora knew about his fear of heights and he had a very good reason for that, well maybe not. Years ago some kid had made fun of him when saying he was scared of heights places, of course Sora had been the amazing twin brother that time and had punched the kid right in his jaw, "_Oh like being scared of the boogieman isn't lame at all_!" the brunette had shouted and then grabbed his twin's hand and walked away with him, okay that was something that happened when they were like… still in kindergarten. But Roxas just never got over it, and whenever someone asked him '_What are you scared of_?' he would just answer with '_I don't know_' and people had tried many times to scare him and nothing worked, the thought of Roxas being scared never came up, he didn't seem like the type that was scared of heights. Though if you would think a little about it, it wasn't that hard to tell, he never stood on chairs, he always let someone else do that, when walking upstairs he always made sure to avoid looking over the edge, he avoided windows on the second floor... A lot of things, the moment he no longer stood on the ground he got scared, so bad he would start breathing heavier and his whole body became weak… thanks to that pathetic behavior he avoided any high place.

Though that was a bit hard with friends telling him it was his turn, he had heard Sora say his name, had lent him his ear and Sora had said he could make up something.

"Nah, it's cool." He had said and ruffled his hair; of course it wasn't_ fucking_ okay.

He didn't even have to nerve to look over the edge; hell he couldn't even stand up. How long was he here? Could he just go down?

"Hey Rox, you okay?" Axel then shouted,

He then heard a soft whimper coming from his brother, great now he made his twin worry. '_Good job Roxas, just… great_.' He finally stood up, leaning hard against the cold wall and then forced himself to look over the edge…

_'Fuck.'_

_God save him._

He almost fell back, "Hey, it's safe right?" he finally managed to shout, hoping his voice didn't sound as weak as he thought it sounded, he just wanted to get back down. He didn't want to jump; he didn't want to use the ladder, he just wanted to get back down. He couldn't remember the last time he was so scared, hell… the moment he had found out about his fear he had avoided high places like this.

He bit his lip, feeling his body becoming hot and then cold at the same time, he was sweating and trembling and he couldn't keep his eyes open long enough, his throat hurt and he felt sick, he couldn't breath… he didn't want to collapse.

_'This is so embarrassing_,'

"Roxas! I'm gonna tell them!" Sora finally shouted, "Is that fine?"

'_No Sora, that isn't okay at all. God, way to make things worse!' _

…No, honestly Sora. That really wasn't going to help him. He shook his head. Well… that wasn't going to help. Sora couldn't see him do that.

"Tell them what? There's nothing wrong." He shouted, lie. _Obviously_.

"Then just jump!" Larxene shouted,

"Larxene, don't do that." Axel said,

"What's wrong with him?" Demyx then asked,

And god. _Couldn't they just shut-up?!_

"Oi kid, if you're not gonna jump then I'll have to pull you down." The man shouted that took care of this all, and to prove his worse Roxas already felt some more pressure on the rope around his middle.

What if the rope snapped?

. X .

. X .

. X .

"Roxas!" Sora shouted once again, and when there was no response he finally sighed, he looked around, seeing the confused and worried looks on their friends' faces, "Roxas is _afraid of heights_," he spoke softly, though he knew Roxas probably heard him, he knew that his brother felt stupid and pathetic right now and god did it make the brunette feel guilty but he seriously couldn't take this anymore.

"Oh well, that explains it." The man sighed,

Namine let out a surprised gasp and looked worried around, they all seemed surprised to hear that, who would have thought? Sure it was kind of obvious now, everything felt at place, Roxas avoids standing on a chair, he had usually just shrugged it off by saying he was too lazy for it, or when they sat on the clock tower how he always sat as far as possible from the edge… it was so strange because he had never said anything about it.

"…But… he sits at the clock tower all the time with us," Hayner then said slowly,

"He never liked it," Sora said,

"He told you?" Kairi asked curious,

"I saw it," he said it like the answer was that obvious, though it was probably because they were twins, even their mother didn't know about Roxas's fear, she thought he had gotten over it, after all their mother always looked like she was on the edge of bursting out in laughter when hearing that Sora was still scared of the dark, and once they made a joke about Roxas's fear of heights just to see if she still reacted the same way and the answer they god said more than enough, "It's just something in your head. Geez, did I put two crybabies on this earth?" she then had sighed, "Honestly, I'm glad Roxas god over his fear… just the thought of it,"

So yeah. Their mother hadn't helped either…

That aside, they still had a problem. Roxas was still up there and knowing him he probably couldn't get down anymore.

Larxene then finally burst out in laughter, causing Olette to glare at her and give her a soft punch against her shoulder, nothing too hard but it still counted as a warning. The blond girl stopped then and glared back at her.

"Well, he can't stay up there forever," the man then said.

Sora nodded,

"So I guess we'll have to pull him down-"

"Wha-what! No!" Olette and Hayner both shouted at the same time, surprising everyone.

"I-I mean…" Olette coughed awkwardly, "If he's really scared of heights… I mean…"

"Someone should go up there and see if he's alright," Zexion said calmly, probably one of the few that kept still calm in this kind of situation.

"Fine," Axel nodded and walked to the ladder,

"Oi, Son you can't do that. It's dangerous."

"No Axel! I'll do it. You're probably the last person he wants to see…" Sora then said and when noticing the confused looks he got after saying that he smiled awkwardly, "His pride is hurt," he then said…

"He doesn't want to look lame in front of his boyfriend," Namine then softly said, hoping that said boy wouldn't hear them… which _he probably did_.

Axel simply rolled his eyes and started climbing the ladder, it took him like a minute to get up and seeing the blond curled up in a ball, he could hear he was painting and he was trembling… it was strange to see Roxas like this, he slowly crawled on top of the wooden floor and sat down next to the blond, "You alright?" he then asked and lay a comforting hand on the blond's shoulder, feeling how he slightly flinched away from his touch, he then slowly looked up and his blue eyes met Axel's. "_I hate you_," he whispered weakly,

"Because I wanted you to come? Yeah… sorry about that," the redhead laughed while rubbing the back of his head, "Hey, how about we go back down with the ladder?"

…

The teen was actually surprised to hear Axel didn't blame him at all, the redhead didn't say anything about how Roxas should have simply told him about his fear of heights instead of keeping it a secret… well the boy had actually thought that if he simply closed his eyes it would be alright, it only took one second to step of this thing and be back down, though in the back of his head he kind of knew that he could possibly never do that.

"You're not gonna jump, right?"

"…I-"

The redhead smiled and ruffled his hair, "Just try to do your best to not look down," he then stood up and looked over the edge, he didn't even flinch, just stood there, ignoring the man that told him to keep away from the edge. "I'll go first, you're gonna follow?"

He slowly nodded,

With that said Axel climbed back down, followed by Roxas.

When they both reached the safe ground Sora almost ran into his brother's arms, telling him he was very proud of him that he had at least tried, others gathered around the blond as well, Hayner gave him a friendly pat on his shoulder, Pence as well, Olette hugged him, Namine even went as far as giving him a peck on the cheek and telling him he was very brave, she didn't even want climb on that stupid thing…

"Hey Roxas, wanna go outside?" Axel didn't even wait for an answer, he simply grabbed his hand and first helped him with removing the rope and all that and then walked with him outside so that he could get some fresh air.

"I'm sorry…" Roxas finally said when sitting down on the cold hard ground,

"For what?"

There first wasn't an answer, he just gazed off into the distance and sighed, "I feel so lame right now…" he then admitted,

"Yeah you looked pretty lame up there,"

…There wasn't a 'gee thanks' or 'that helps,', Roxas really wasn't joking, and it only made the redhead even more guilty to be honest, he should have seen it. He should have noticed that Roxas scared of heights, he shouldn't have just shrugged it off whenever Roxas needed something from an high shelf, "Hey Rox, I know you might feel lame right now… and you'll probably hate yourself even more after this… I know you, you'll probably walk around with the thought 'I should have just jumped' for like a couple of weeks and whenever you think about your pride will hurt once again…" he spoke, "And while for me… and for everyone else… well we don't know what it is like to have acrophobia so I wouldn't know what you saw but… I mean… just see this as a big step, I mean Namine and Kairi didn't even clmib that ladder, they just kept on the safe ground;.. They did that because of fear the rope would snap and not because of acrophobia… but… it's something, right? And I'm sure Sora is very proud of you… because you at least tried, a lot of people wouldn't… do that…"

"You know… your pep talks are really bad,"

Axel let out an awkward laugh when hearing that, of course not…. He had never been good at this and god he felt very bad for that actually, because he really wanted to cheer his boyfriend up.

"…Though… you're right," Roxas sighed and leaned his head against the wall, looking up the gray sky, it could rain any moment and he actually didn't care, let it rain for once…. "I'm such a coward…"

"No you aren't," Axel laughed, "Hey, how about we leave? Let's do something fun?"

"Like…?"

"Sex?"

"I'd rather climb up that ladder now,"

Axel laughed when hearing that, he reached his hand out to the blond and smiled when Roxas accepted it and stood up again, he dusted himself off and then, surprised the redhead by hugging him. Soft sobs were escaping his mouth as he hid his face, and it broke the taller teen's heart to see him like that, Roxas had never cried in front of anyone, Roxas had always been too proud for that… and here he was, in his head he was probably still standing on that high spot, trembling from fear while believing his friends will laugh at him for having such a ridiculous fear, Roxas actually looked like an short and fragile boy at that moment, nothing like the proud boy that Axel had fallen for… the one that made you forget about how short he really was because of his way of talking to you… but Axel couldn't care less, he softly sighed while letting his chin rest on top the boy's head, the boy he would always love… and there were still so many things he needed to learn about him, but he would probably love him even more.


End file.
